A Lawman Out of Time
by starfish699
Summary: When a Sheriff Deputy from present day finds himself stranded in the Mass Effect Universe, how will he handle it? Will he change the story, tell shepard and his team what he knows? Or will he just try to survive and find a way back home? (Rated M for language/Violence/Adult Content)
1. Prologue

_Authors Note:_

_Welcome to my first attempt at writing a story since elementary school. I'm going to release the Prologue now as well as chapter one in the near future and see how they do (If anyone sees this story at all).  
_

_Please feel free to leave reviews, good or bad. Only thing I ask is if you do, please say what specifically you do or don't like and what you think could be done better,weather the review is good or bad._

_I own nothing when it comes to Mass Effect, I'm just playing in the sandbox provided. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this and I hope someone finds some enjoyment out of it._

Prologue

**Fall, 2019**

I was dead… dead tired I mean. Where do I even start? It had been another long, busy shift, after a long work week in my now seemingly crazy life working for the Sheriff's Office. My week had begun fairly well, or so I thought. I had locked up a local dealer, who went by DJ, that I'd been trying to get for quite a while. Luckily for me I got him with possession with intent to distribute after a routine traffic stop. After that everything went downhill.

First, this dealers buddies, who were also known to deal in town had left me a not so nice message on my patrol vehicle to the effect of, release DJ or bad things happen to you and those you care about blah blah blah, the normal noise I've heard on occasion from others. So, I tried to ignore.

Big mistake….

For the next couple days, I noticed that I was being followed and watched by DJ's partners/friends. Even my family wasn't immune, as I had gotten several calls from my parents stating the same thing.

On top of that I had at least one crazy event pop off every shift. Ended the week with three regular death investigations, four assaults not including two stabbings at the same fucking residence, and three DUI's, one of which I had just finished with at the end of my shift today.

So, I finally get home, strip out of my uniform/gear and hop in the shower.

After a nice hot shower, I did the only thing I had energy to do, grab a beer and turn on the TV in my room till I hopefully fall asleep.

Sleep didn't come though, instead I just stared off into space thinking about the events of the week, specifically these asshats that were threatening my family.

As I sat there, I heard a storm roll in. I let the rumble of thunder and comforting patter of rain hitting the windows lull me to sleep….

.

.

CRASH.

I jump out of my bed, onto my feet like a fire had been lit under my bum, eyes wide, alert and ready for a fight.

After the initial shock I relaxed, and noticed the TV was off, actually everything was off and pitch black in the room. "Shit powers out" I mumbled to myself. I also noticed the storm was still going strong, occasionally lighting up the room from the massive bolts of electricity outside my window.

"Must've just been a clap of thunder" I thought.

As I begin to lay back down, I heard what sounded like footsteps and someone bumping into something downstairs.

Oddly my immediate thought was just "Huh, that didn't sound like the storm…"

Then it clicked that there actually might be someone in my house, someone who was probably there with less than noble intentions.

So as quietly as I could, I slipped into some pants and a white t-shirt as well as grabbing my Glock off of the nightstand.

Very slowly made my way to my closet and began gearing up. First my plate carrier, a fairly simple rig, light brown with three mag pouches and a radio carrier on the front.

I stuffed my Glock into the rear of my pants and grabbed my Vepr 12 shotgun along with four, 10 shell magazines to go with. A fairly intimidating sight. The best way I can describe it as a beefed-up AK shotgun with a tac-light, vertical grip and a sig Romeo red dot, essentially turning aiming into a point-and-click adventure game.

Lastly, I threw my go bag on which had a ballistic helmet, first aid materials, extra ammo and a few odds and ends.

Once I was ready, I didn't move a muscle, hoping to hear a noise that give me a clue as to where Mr. or Mrs. Bad guy might be. Alas that would be to easy and was met with only silence coming from the pitch-black house.

"Well, its now or never" I whispered to no one in particular.

Flicked on my light and began the slow and methodical clearing of my house. Because of the lack of recent clues, I had to clear every room one by one, creating safe areas I knew I could retreat to.

About two to five minutes in I had finished the upstairs. "Halfway done" I thought, trying to reassure my self and push down a growing fear, to little success. Only being able to see directly in front of me, my mind began playing tricks on me, thinking I see figures in the dark portions of the room.

Making my way down stairs I hear my first signs of life coming from the kitchen, causing my heart rate to rise as well as pick up my pace, and slight tunnel vison being exacerbated by the darkness of the house and my light only lighting a portion of it.

I reach the Kitchen and clear right, past the fridge when I run into him... one of the assholes whose been following me. He was an averaged sized white guy, buzz cut, with a little stubble on his face, wearing baggy cargo pants and a navy-blue crew neck t-shirt. Immediately he gets covered with my weapon, while he just stands their facing me with his hands behind his back.

"SHOW ME YOUR HANDS RIGHT NOW!"

He just stood there; eyes locked on me. The only movement being made was the corners of his lips slowly climbing into one of the creepiest smiles I had ever seen.

"HANDS! RIGHT FUCKIN NOW OR I WILL SHOOT!"

He finally complied, slowly raising his hands over his head. After doing so the unwelcome guest decided to open his mouth. "You should've just cut DJ loose my man." He said with absolutely no emotion.

As soon as he finished, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to respond to it but all I received was a bright flash, then nothing….

No feeling, no sound, no light. Pitch black. Had I died? Is this heaven?

I shook that last thought thinking this definitely ain't heaven, and I don't think it's hell.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, or maybe a couple minutes I couldn't be sure in this place, I saw a faint light. I naturally gravitated towards it, smiling realizing I can finally rest.

I reached the light, I let it envelope me and I woke up to what I thought was gonna be I actually woke up to made the insanity of my life prior to this point, look boring and mundane in comparison…


	2. Chapter 1

_Authors Note:_

_Welcome back to those of you reading, I really appreciate the likes and review. The OC Characters story is planned out for the near future but enjoy hearing your ideas for his future actions.  
_

_Again like I said before, I own nothing from Mass Effect. And I hope those of you reading this story enjoy it to some degree. Thank You! :)_

Chapter 1

I slowly came to, cracking open my eyes, and immediately noticing two things.

One, I have a pounding headache like I made a handle of vodka disappear.

Two, I have absolutely no idea where I am. Last thing I remember is dealing with captain creepy smile in my kitchen. But now I'm in some kind of… hallway, I guess?

"How in the hell?" I mumbled.

The light blue metallic sheen of the walls punctuated by the occasional little lights gave it a futuristic kind of feel.

Other than that, the place was a dump, random crates of various sizes and my god the trash. The trash reminded me of some of the worst back alleys of large cities I've visited.

As I continue to gain my bearings, I see I'm still wearing my gear, and that my Vepr and go bag are a couple feet away.

I wonder how the hell I got here.

Did someone move me? If so, then why did they bring my gear along with?

I decide at this point that I need to stop worrying how I got here and worry more about how to get out of here.

I grab my black skull face balaclava and ballistic helmet out of my bag and gear up. Trying to be as ready as possible for what I might run into.

As I carefully move down the hallway I come to a junction with a fairly open area, almost like a four-sided elevated walkway. But who I saw in it was more important.

"What in the actual FUCK?" I mouth to myself, looking at something that can't possibly be real…. a turian. I'm looking at a god damned turian in blue armor, a fictional species in a fictional universe!

I froze in place, hell I stopped breathing for a second feeling this massive lump in my throat. This can't be right, can't be real. I've got to be in a coma or something right?

After a few moments of trying to put my malfunctioning brain back together I came to a decision. Weather this is real or a trick or what not, I must survive, I must find a way out of here.

Easier said then done when your about as 21st century tactical looking as physically possible.

So, I just ease back into the hallway and watch as the turian walks past talking to a small group of three humans and a krogan with him. I can't understand a word he's saying but I hear a women's voice mention something about a club.

After they passed my position I eased out into the walkway and immediately head the opposite direction. Which turned out to be the smart choice as gun fire soon erupted behind me. Dodged those bullets, literally.

As I walk, I soon come to another realization, I'm alone… I'm not on earth more then likely and even if I was all my friends and family are gone, dead or at the minimum non-existent. This line of thinking slowly causes me to freak out. I started running out of fear, out of panic, ignoring my corners and surroundings. Leading to an unplanned meeting of sorts.

I turned a corner into a long ally when I saw them, well her to be specific. I had run straight into the meeting with Tali and Saren's thugs. Wonderful….

I stood there thinking, should I get involved? Should I just dip and let Shepard handle it? This wasn't my fight, my responsibility. But I couldn't in good conscience just leave without helping.

But that's exactly what you did a few minutes ago when you heard a shootout behind you my brain countered. That doesn't make leaving right though….

As I stood there arguing with myself, the decision was made for me. One of the salarians pointed me out bringing the meeting to a screeching halt. Everyone just stared at me.

"Oh shit this is bad, think of something Patrick" I said in my head, so I uttered the first phrase that came to mind. "Uh hey, what's up y'all". That's when all hell proceeded to break loose.

Tali took advantage of my surprise distraction, tossing a grenade at the feet of the salarians and diving behind a crate. I follow suit, getting behind the crate parallel to her.

We both proceed to engage the thugs, who luckily for me had no shields after Tali's timely grenade toss. Tali put down the disorganized/confused salarians while I filled the rather rude turian with about 16 pellets of buckshot, half of those turning his skull into a pulpy mess, dropping him almost instantly.

As fast as it had begun it was over.

I just stood there… looking at my gruesome handy work. I'd never shot at anyone before, let alone kill them. While I'd been exposed to my fair share of morbid and disturbing scenes, this was different, I was the one doing the killing. While I stood their trying to process what I had just done, I barely noticed a shotgun being aimed at my head with a fairly pissed of qurian behind it.

**[Tali's POV]**

"I Should've never trusted that bosh'tet" Tali thought as she caught her breath, trying to bring herself under control.

I then turned to the unknown human next to me and brandished my shotgun, unsure if he was there to help or hurt me.

He seemed to be of average build for a human, though I admit I have very little experience dealing with them. From what I've seen they're fairly qurian like, though I have no clue how they manage to walk with their straight legs.

The most noticeable thing was his outfit and gear. I've never seen anything like it. The tan vest I think is armor, the helmet that only covers the very top of his head and slightly unsettling skull face cloth mask that allowed you to only see his eyes. Not that I could see them very well anyway as he just looked at the dead turian.

"WHO ARE YOU? DROP THE GUN!" I yelled trying to get his attention, but he didn't move. He just continued staring at the turian.

"HEY, DID YOU HEAR ME? DROP THE GUN!" This garnered a reaction; he slowly turned his head to look at me and I got my first good look at his eyes. They were a very handsome shade of green (Did I just think that?), and the look they had was of... conflict? Pain? Though almost as soon as they saw this, he must've regained his composure as they became more just confused.

Finally, he spoke, politely with a slight draw to his voice that I found, kind of nice I guess "I don't understand what you're saying miss, I only know English"

Tali contemplated what he just said. "No translator I guess" she thought, guess I'll just use my in suit one.

"Drop the gun. Who are you?" she repeated, though much less forcefully this time.

He released his grip on his weird looking gun, but the sling just caused it to hang at his front.

"Names Connolly, was just walking buy when I ran into your little meeting, ended up being some trouble for both of us, so figured helping you was my best course of action" he said rather plainly, like he was just talking to any normal person on the street, not some random quarian that he was in a shootout because of. Odd Tali thought.

"Thank you but..." before Tali could finish that sentence or ask any of the million and one questions she had bouncing in her head, a rather loud and seemingly angry human interrupted her.

"SYSTEMS ALLIANCE! DROP YOUR WEAPON AND STEP AWAY FROM THE QUARIAN!"

Unlike when I asked Connolly to do the same he didn't comply, instead he did the opposite, raising his weapon and pushing me behind a crate for… protection?! Why would he do that, he barely knows me?

Connolly responded almost at the same time as the apparent marines' orders with his own for her group to drop their weapons. The moment was tense while Connolly and this stoic faced women in front of him stared each other down.

Connolly was the first to talk "Ma'am I think we're on the same side here and this is just a big misunderstanding" he said as he slowly released his shotgun and raised his hands.

"We'll see" is all the marine said before whipping out a set of zip tie cuffs approaching Connolly.

Before she could reach him Tali Jumped between them, "Wait he's telling the truth. He helped protect me from these thugs, killed that turian over there actually."

The marine looked over at Conolly thoughtfully. All I could hope for was she would believe that he helped, and wouldn't get in trouble because of me…

**[Connolly's POV]**

I stood there as the marine, who I knew was Commander Shepard stared at me for a few seconds in deep thought.

"Is this true?" she asked to which I responded with a simple "Yes Ma'am". She just nodded her head in acknowledgement and asked for my name.

"Connolly Ma'am" I said Cooley, deciding to stick with my last name for the time being. Again, she just nodded her head, gave my equipment an inquisitive up and down look, then moved over to speak with Tali.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance. Forgive me for being blunt but you're currently in possession of information regarding the criminal actions of the specter Saren Arterius and require you to accompany me back to the human embassy."

Tali wrung her hands for a few seconds before she agreed with the Commander, not that I believe she had much choice in the matter.

This is where I figured I'd be hopping off this bus, but to my surprise Shepard turned to me next.

"And your friend here, Mr. Connolly, will be accompanying us as well while I figure out what to do with him." She said rather sternly.

I stood there, mouth hanging open though luckily covered by my mask, from what I just heard. This was way more than I had bargained for. Before I could say anything, Shepard motioned to the group, "Garrus, Wrex, please confiscate Mr. Connolly's weapons and maybe remove that mask while your at it." She ordered.

"Ma'am if possible, I'd like to keep the mask on, for…. my safety" I asked.

I had determined based on the information I know it would be best to keep my physical identity hidden for as long as possible.

Shepard looked at me suspiciously but acquiesced to my request.

"Ok but we're going to have a little talk later, is that understood?"

I swallowed some fear at that statement but managed to nod in understanding.

I glanced at Tali, and while I couldn't see her face, I felt she was giving off an expression of I'm sorry. "No that can't be what she's expressing" I thought, "Why would she care, she doesn't even know me."

"Alright lets head to the embassy. Wrex take point, Garrus pull rear. Me, Lt. and the Chief will provide security on the sides while we move the VIP." Shepard ordered.

After a chorus of yes ma'ams from the humans and assumingly Garrus and Wrex, who I still couldn't understand, we began the trek to the human embassy.

During the walk all I could think of is what am I going to do now and was it worth it saving Tali. I came to the answer of yes of course it was worth saving an innocent life, even if it has now put me on a very dangerous path I might not walk away from alive.

The longer I thought, the more panicked I felt and the closer we got to the embassy, the less likely it seemed that I was going to be able to go back home…


End file.
